| ||
| ||
| ||
 |
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
U.S. satellites watching Syria, Israel
From Barbara Starr
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- After Israel bombed the Ein Saheb camp in Syria on Sunday, U.S. military satellites and other reconnaissance assets are taking a "broader look" at the two nations, an intelligence community official said Thursday. The purpose of the increased attention is to get an early warning of any future potentially destabilizing military moves by either side, the source said. More intelligence analysts with specific expertise about Israel military capabilities and operations will look at the data collected, the official said. Israel launched an airstrike Sunday against a target it called a terrorist training camp inside Syrian territory. Syria said the site was a civilian site and claimed the airstrike violated the U.N. charter and the 1974 disengagement agreement that followed the 1973 Yom Kippur war. Israel said it acted in self-defense and called the airstrike a "measured defensive operation" aimed at a training camp used by Islamic Jihad, a Palestinian militant group designated a terrorist organization by the U.S. State Department. Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility for Saturday's suicide bombing in Haifa that 19 people. The U.S. intelligence official pointed out that the area surrounding the Syrian-Iraqi border was already under close surveillance because of the continuing concern about fighters crossing into Iraq from Syria. U.S. intelligence believes that as many as 200 Syrian fighters may be in far western Iraq, using the area as a staging ground for attacks against U.S. troops. So far, no evidence exists that those fighters entered Iraq with the cooperation of the Syrian government. U.S. satellites observing the border area could readily survey a broader swath of Syria, looking for potential new activity at suspected terrorist training camps. Other satellites, aircraft or ship reconnaissance radars could be used to monitor Israeli military activities, watching for any future strikes against Syria. "It's safe to assume the intelligence community is doing what it can to keep track of what is going on," the official said. Because there is such a high-level of concern about Syria-Iraqi border issues, the U.S. military wants to make sure there are no sudden moves by Israeli fighter jets or missiles that U.S. forces might be unaware of and potentially misconstrue. That potential scenario "adds a dimension we have to consider," the source said. The official also said U.S. intelligence did have pre-strike reconnaissance imagery of the Ein Saheb camp, and has gathered additional satellite imagery since the attack.
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
